A family-run shop that sells everything you need to take your own life finds it hard to focus on business after a new baby -- one who makes everyone around him happy -- is born into the family.

Young Friederich has humble origins, but rises to the attention of his new boss, Karl. As he volunteers to tutor his employer's son, he gets more and more attached to Karl's young wife Lotte. She refuses however to betray her husband even when they learn Friedrich must go to Mexico for two years to supervise a mining project for Karl. Friedrich and Lotte swear one another they will stay true to each other, but the oncoming war keeps them apart for far longer than expected. Written by ETB

To get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.

A French man spies on a lovely younger woman across the way. When he's spotted by the woman shortly after being questioned by the police about a local murder, the man's simple life becomes more complicated.